The first-ever Women of the Channel Europe event, being held in Barcelona, Spain, from Nov. 9-10, will unite women executives from IT vendors, distributors and solution provider organizations across Europe.

Tech Data's purchase of Avnet's technology business will allow the distributors to marry Tech Data's low cost structure with Avnet's technical expertise, according to two of Avnet's top channel partner executives.

Avnet President Patrick Zammit speaks with CRN on what becoming part of Tech Data means for partner margins, sales and technical support, and how the deal will unlock a deeper line card and more investment in cutting-edge technology.

Tech Data CEO Bob Dutkowsky dishes on what buying Avnet's technology business means for the partner programs of both companies, and how the deal will allow the company to drive innovation around cloud and the Internet of Things.

Tech Data CEO Bob Dutkowsky says his company's proposed $2.6 billion purchase of Avnet's Technology Solutions business will create the most complete line card of any distributor in the fast-growing data center space.

Many technology initiatives for midmarket companies may mirror those at the enterprise level, but limited resources means IT leaders have to spend their budget wisely, says a Gartner analyst at MES West.

Doron Kempel says selling hyper-convergence can be challenging for solution providers, but success will come from taking business from competitors that are unprepared or hesitant to embrace the technology.